Max-Karl Winkler was born in the spring of 1938 in New Braunfels, Texas. Because his father was employed by the Federal government, the family moved with some frequency—first to Midland, then to Houston, Fort Worth, Mexico City, and Washington, DC. For Winkler, the five years in Mexico City were his longest period in one home. Both the stability of those years and the exotic setting, were significant influences on his development as an artist. Winker entered The University of Texas at Austin in 1955 and was graduated in 1959 with a BA in English. In his junior year, however, he had enrolled in figure drawing and design courses, and his experiences in the studio changed the course of his life. After two years as a teacher, he returned to the university to study studio art. Receiving his BFA in 1963, he was awarded a Farmer International Fellowship by the Institute of Latin American Studies of The University of Texas, for study and travel in Mexico. Winkler returned to The University of Texas at Austin in 1964; he received an MFA, with a major in drawing and printmaking, in 1968. He worked for the next eight years as a college-level studio art and art history teacher, at colleges in Texas, Colorado, and California. In 1976 he returned to Colorado and worked for several years as a free-lance designer and illustrator. In 1984, he moved to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, where he continued his career in design and illustration. In 1989 he began his employment at the National Science Resources Center, an organization (sponsored jointly by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences) devoted to science education. Winkler was the staff artist for the NSRC’s curriculum projects for fifteen years, until the position was terminated in 1984. In addition to employment at the National Science Resources Center, Winkler was employed in the Studio Arts Programs of The Smithsonian Associates, where he taught drawing and printmaking for 34 years. Winkler was a member of the Washington Printmakers Gallery for fourteen years. His work is to be found in a number of public and private collections, including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Georgetown University, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Library of Congress. His woodcuts are exhibited regularly in national juried competitive exhibitions. For the past 33 years, Winkler and his wife Ellen, who is also an artist, have lived in Kensington, Maryland.
